Byrd Now Stands as History's Senior Senator

Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

Nobody has served longer in the United States Senate than West Virginia Democrat Robert Byrd. He surpassed the term of the late senator Strom Thurmond over the weekend.

So this morning we will listen to some of Senator Byrd's more than 17,000 days in office, starting after his election in 1958.

Senator ROBERT BYRD (Democrat, West Virginia): I'm stepping into a body which carries greater influence, perhaps, certainly one in which each individual member has a great deal more responsibility.

INSKEEP: Robert Byrd was just leaving the House of Representatives, and about to begin a career as a guardian of the Senate's traditions, as well as a manipulator of the Senate's rules. He was featured in a documentary called Soul of the Senate.

(Soundbite of film "Soul of the Senate")

Sen. BYRD: (In Film) I have, many times, as I sat in the House, said thank God for the Senate.

INSKEEP: That celebration of the Senate has become the Senator's trademark. He quotes from the Bible and Aesop's Fables and Roman philosophers. He is also associated with one of the Senate's timeless practices: delivering pork barrel spending to his home state.

For many years Senator Byrd has been the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, which doles out money to countless projects.

Sen. BYRD: Cicero said there is no fortress so strong that money will not take it. So, this is the committee, is where things are done that advance mankind. This committee is a watering hole. I like to be at the watering hole.

INSKEEP: The West Virginia Democrat says he has made mistakes over the years. One was joining the Ku Klux Klan as a young man. During debate over invading Iraq, he spoke of another decision he regrets.

Sen. BYRD: Let's go back to that war in Vietnam. I was here. I was one of the Senators who voted for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Yes, I'm sorry for it. I'm guilty of doing that, but I'm not wanting to commit that sin twice.

INSKEEP: Senator Robert Byrd says one great love motivates many of the battles that he fights, one that he mentioned when debating a fellow senator last year.

Sen. BYRD: I love this man from Alaska. I feel that I have, my blood in my veins is with his blood. I love him, but I love the Senate more.

INSKEEP: Senator Robert Byrd is running for reelection in November, the same month that he turns 89.

Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.